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An Elegiac Story

Orlando Weekly | March 27, 2007

When you're eating onions to keep your wits about you and to keep your husband off you, then your life has taken a turn for the worse. Based on the story by Lebanese author Hanan al-Shaykh, A Season of Madness is only 17 minutes long, but it elegantly captures the crushing despair that's felt when trapped in a worthless marriage. Empty bromides and disapproving looks from her mother-in-law (Madhur Jaffrey) do little to keep Fatin (Marjan Neshat) from becoming lost in nostalgic remembrances of true love, a mental habit that pushes her over the edge. While her husband is portrayed as worse-than-perfect but better-than-evil, Fatin's emotional world gets smaller and smaller until she's faced with only two ugly options. Beautifully shot and sensitively acted, this elegiac story is rendered note-perfect by writer/director Katja Esson.

Tags: A Season of Madness, Katja Esson

Orlando Weekly

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